INGHAM COUNTY (WWJ) - An Italian woman who traveled to the U.S. to help an East Lansing man as an au pair and care for his niece was lured, federal agents claim, and was instead handcuffed, raped and photographed.
According to an FBI affidavit filed Monday, Jan. 23, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan in Grand Rapids, agents accused Arisknight A. Winfree of East Lansing of kidnapping and sexual exploitation of a child for the incident reported to police three months ago.
If convicted, the crimes are punishable up to life in prison and between 15 and 30 years behind bars, respectively.
The complaint includes a report made of the Italian woman's harrowing ordeal, which she said occurred after she arrived in Michigan to work as an au pair for Winfree and his niece.
As described by Merriam-Webster, an au pair is "is “usually a young foreign person who cares for children and does domestic work for a family in return for room and board and the opportunity to learn the family’s language."
In the affidavit, East Lansing Police was made aware of the sexual assault claims after they received a phone call on Oct. 21, 2022. The caller said the victim lives in Italy, but the assault occurred in East Lansing.
During the investigation, an Italian translator from the FBI was requested to conduct a phone interview with the woman, who then recounted her harrowing 19-hour ordeal, agents said.
The victim, who was only identified by initials in the federal court filing, said she began talking to a man named "Stryker" – later identified as Winfree by authorities – around Sept.5 on AuPair.com, a website designed to connect au pairs with families in need of services.
The two arranged for the victim to come to the United States for three months, the affidavit said, and on Oct. 12, she arrived at Winfree's residence on Highland Avenue in East Lansing about 9:15 a.m.
"I immediately noticed that his house windows were covered with newspapers,” the woman said in her complaint, but did not notice anything else unusual.
The next day, the woman woke up around 7 a.m. and had begun cleaning the house when she realized Winfree had installed cameras around the home.
"After some afternoon errands, I went to my room to take a shower," she recounted. "Stryker came in and asked to go down wearing my bathrobe only. I refused. He insisted firmly. I was afraid. Unwillingly, I did what he asked for."
From there, the victim said Winfree made sexual advances, which she refused, but he was able to handcuff the woman and tied her legs up in towels, the complaint states.
"I felt like I was dying,” she said as outlined in court documents. “He put his hand on my nose and mouth and then placed a gag ball in my mouth ... For the first time in my life, I prayed to God.”
The woman said in her complaint that Winfree sexually assaulted her with sex toys and raped her. He took photos and filmed some of the encounter, and demanded she say that she consented to the acts on recordings, she said in her account.
"After that, I asked him again I wanted to go back home (in Italy)," she wrote in the complaint. "He instructed me not to say anything to anyone. He intimidated me when he said that he worked for the U.S. government."
Afterward, the complaint states Winfree left the woman still tied up and in handcuffs in the room until he finally released her around 2 a.m. on Oct. 14 and took her to a bus stop where he took all her money and removed the SIM card from her phone.
The woman said she made her way to Detroit Metro Airport and flew home, seeking immediate treatment at an ER facility when she arrived in Trento, Italy.
During her interview with investigators, she said she never physically saw Winfee's niece and did not see evidence of a child living in the home, despite their arrangement for her to care for the child two weeks per month.
Winfree stands accused of several other crimes, involving two separate incidents apart from the Italian woman's claims. The federal affidavit also accuses Winfree of making child pornography and trafficking drugs.
During a search warrant at Winfree's home on Dec. 12, agents said they found 10 firearms, nearly 80 grams of cocaine in three separate bags, a coffee grinder with suspected cocaine residue in it, a digital scale and sex toys,
The federal agents said they also seized Winfree's cell phone and home surveillance footage, where images of his encounters with the Italian woman as well as another teen were captured. Messages exchanged between Winfree and another person also led agents to believe he was soliciting child pornographic images from other minors, the complaint stated.
Winfree allegedly tried to lure an 18-year-old woman from Kansas through the Au Pair site, agent claim, but the woman had contacted her sister on Sept. 16, 2022 and stated Winfree made her "nervous."
The sister called East Lansing police who responded to the address. The 18-year-old told officers that she had arranged to come to Winfree's home to work as an au pair and care for his niece, but found no evidence of a child in the home and Winfree had asked her for a massage.
As outlined in the complaint, the 18-year-old told officers that she had seen seven "machine guns" in the home.
It is unclear in Winfree was taken into police custody or faced any charges in that incident.
The court documents state Winfree surrendered to police on Tuesday, Jan. 24. He is due in Grand Rapids’ federal court for a detention hearing at 2 p.m. Thursday.